Laugh Yourself Silly at Work

Humour always goes down well in any training session or presentation. According to Goran Ekvall, emeritus professor of organisational psychology at the University of Lund in Sweden, humour is one of the keys to productivity and creativity. When Ekvall carried out research at a Swedish newspaper, he found that the team that performed consistently better than all other departments was the women's pages team. Why? Because they had a creative sense of humour not possessed by the others. So, there should be a place for humour in the training room. We recently asked a select group of trainers to tell us which piece of training room humour always made them laugh. And here is their list, the top 3 funny jokes and anecdotes of the training room. See if you agree with them.

The Best Trainer Joke

The first story is a joke that will appeal to anyone who's stood in front of an audience and tried to get the better of them.

A sarcastic trainer asked his class, "If there are any idiots in the room, will they please stand up?" After a long silence, one employee rose to his feet."Now then sir, why do you consider yourself an idiot?" enquired the trainer with a sneer."Well, actually I don't," said the trainee, "but I hate to see you standing up there all by yourself."

The Best Self-Effacing Joke in a Presentation

People who can laugh at themselves are usually seen as strong, independent, secure, and likeable. Self-effacing humour shows you're not a stuffed shirt. It connects you by showing you're really just as vulnerable and error-prone as the people you're talking to.

Ronald Reagan was a great self-effacer. In his bid for the 1980 Presidency of the USA, he quipped about his age: "Thomas Jefferson once said, "One should not worry about chronological age compared to the ability to perform a task." Ever since Thomas Jefferson told me that, I've stopped worrying about my age."

The Best Training Joke with a Moral

The following story is a great way to illustrate the moral that you should always check out your assumptions.

Your family recently moved to a new neighbourhood. Next to you lives another family who has a rabbit for a pet. Your family owns a dog who loves to chase rabbits.

One weekend the neighbours go off skiing. That Saturday, your dog shows up on your doorstep with the neighbour's dead rabbit in its mouth. Oh no, what shall we do? So, you wash it off, blow dry it and put in back in its cage.

The next week you see your neighbour. "Hi! How was skiing?", you ask. "Fine," your neighbour replies. "But you know a strange thing happened to our rabbit while we were gone." "Oh," you ask innocently, "What happened?" "Well, our rabbit died last Friday and we buried it before we left, but when we came back we found it all cleaned up and lying in its cage!"

When you stop laughing, let us know if you agree with our list by using our Contact Us page. (And, if you don't agree, send in what you think are funnier.)